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Plasma is a girl’s best friend?

The technology gap between men and women has been closed for some time, though …

What do women want? Plasma televisions, apparently. A new study (Word .DOC) by US TV network Oxygen ("The New Girls Network") debunks the myth that "the only women interested in technology are urban trendsetters" and finds that three-quarters of American women would prefer a plasma television to a diamond solitaire necklace.

Though Oxygen may be "rewriting the rulebook for women's television," the network isn't above trading on female sexuality to draw attention to its survey (surely the oldest rule in that dusty rulebook), called Girls Gone Wired. Oxygen does such studies in order to provide data for advertisers; in this one, it tells them, "don't talk down to women about technology." (Hint: it hurts your sales.)

The survey shows that women feel perfectly comfortable with their technology, that they interact with technology for 15 hours each day (compared to 17 for men), and that 46 percent troubleshoot their own computer problems. They also like to buy technology. If given $500 to spend, more women would buy an iPod or a cell phone than would purchase a little black dress.

Women remain more interested in the practical benefits of technology than in flashy features or sex appeal. 76 percent would purchase an ugly cell phone if it did want they wanted, and only 15 percent think of their phone as a fashion accessory.

There's something about the "little black dress"

But such findings aren't new. Back in 2004, an Intel-sponsored study said many of the same things, and also shed some light on the wide variety of job opportunities available at the chip giant. Dr. Genevieve Bell, a "cultural anthropologist" for the company, tried to understand how people around the world interact with their technology. When the Intel study appeared, she said, "As women, we want our computers to be like that favorite 'little black dress'—reliable and functional, there when you need it, and readily accessorized to be as individual as you are."

The study revealed the existence of a new species, the Technology Involved Female (the "Tif"), who "spans generations and backgrounds" and represents the "new, tech-savvy woman." Tifs, when studied in their natural habitats, were found to value wireless Internet access even more than men (who don't get a cute acronym of their own). Equal numbers of men and women reported feeling "lost" if they did not check their e-mail daily. Still, women were less likely to feel confident when they purchased new computers, though one-third of them also thought that men overstated their own computing knowledge.

A December 2005 study (PDF) from the Pew Internet & American Life Project also found parity between the sexes when it came to using the Internet. In some demographics, women were actually the ones most likely to be online; young women (18-29) were more likely to use the Internet than young men, while black women were more likely to go online than black men.

Women send and receive more e-mail, and when they do so, they use it in a "richer and more engaging way," with an increased focus on strengthening relationships. Men, unsurprisingly, are more interested in using e-mail to gather news and factual information.

Differences between the sexes have not disappeared. As the studies show, men and women still use technology in different ways and for different purposes, and men still dominate areas like gaming, though even that is changing. Though they use technology differently, none of this research finds any basis for thinking of men as more technologically astute than their female counterparts; let's put an end to that idea once and for all.

To men who think this gives them a license to buy a vacuum cleaner for the women in their lives this Christmas ("What? The survey said you like technology!"), we have some advice direct from the Orbiting HQ to you: don't do it. But don't be afraid to wrap a flat-panel TV and slip it beneath the tree. You might be surprised at the results.